Just as the thought that the swaying figure approaching the Night City Police Department officers might be a Cyberpsychotic flashed through Carl's mind, the staggering man raised his head.
He was a middle-aged man in his forties, his face covered in scar-like grooves. His optical implants had rolled back into their whites, and broken mechanical components were clearly visible around the edges of his eye sockets, flashing with an eerie yellow light like a traffic signal warning of something.
One Night City Police Department officer noticed the strange man's approach. He raised his Lexington, intending to tell the odd fellow to stay away from the crime scene, only to find that the middle-aged man had suddenly vanished.
Carl's pupils contracted sharply. It was as if time had slowed down. Then, within that nearly frozen time, the middle-aged man's body left a series of afterimages as he charged at the Night City Police Department officer who had tried to stop him. Carl wanted to move, but found his own body moving incredibly slowly.
He could see it clearly, but his body couldn't keep up.
Was that... a Sandevistan?!
Not everyone had Carl's reaction speed, capable of tracking a Sandevistan without having one themselves. The Night City Police Department officer who had tried to stop him only saw a blur before his eyes, then the strange middle-aged man vanished. By the time he reacted, pain had already shot through his chest.
He instinctively looked down and saw a sharp, long blade like a mantis claw piercing through his chest. Having torn through bone and flesh and emerged from his body, it carried several faintly twitching red fragments.
Was that... his heart?
As that thought surfaced, the long blade was already pulled free. The Night City Police Department officer lost consciousness and collapsed heavily to the ground.
Mantis Blades!
Carl, the only person present who had seen the entire process clearly, recognized the weapon that had pierced the Night City Police Department officer's heart.
Mantis Blades: arm-mounted blades with exceptional concealment and lethality, the top choice for all manner of solo mercs and bodyguards.
Using the Sandevistan to circle behind his target, then deploying the Mantis Blades from his arms to pierce the heart in one fatal strike—this guy was highly practiced.
Recalling the scenes reported on television yesterday and thinking of those mutilated bodies, Carl was eighty percent certain that this man was the Cyberpsychotic who had vanished from Kabuki.
"Watch out!"
While Carl analyzed the situation, the Night City Police Department officers who had come to their senses had already raised their guns at the yellow-eyed middle-aged man standing there after impaling their fellow officer.
No words were needed. The instant they aimed, the Lexingtons roared. Yet the yellow-eyed middle-aged man clearly had Subdermal Armor installed. The dense, rain-like barrage of bullets striking his body did no more than make him tremble slightly.
At that moment, the Night City Police Department's identification system sounded in a mechanical voice.
"Criminal identity confirmed: Patrick Bell. Diagnosis: Cyberpsychosis."
"Fuck, it's that lunatic from yesterday!"
Amid the terrified voices of the Night City Police Department officers, Patrick, whose name had been announced by the mechanical voice, had a flicker in his eyes. He seemed to gain a trace of life, then his entire body began swaying strangely, like a damaged machine coming apart.
The Sandevistan activated again. Only Carl could see the figure once more become a streak, and at the end of that streak was a needle finishing its stitching.
Another Night City Police Department officer died.
"Cyberpsychotic!"
As the onlookers screamed in terror, people began fleeing.
The official spokesperson who had just been reporting on the Night City Police Department's brave deeds now abandoned all dignity, scrambling on all fours toward the broadcast vehicle in an attempt to hide inside. The stall owner who had been making food moments ago vaulted over the counter and fled desperately toward the megabuilding alongside the customers who no longer dared to keep eating. Amid the crowd fleeing in panic from the Cyberpsychotic, Carl put down his sushi.
This sushi was not only Oliver and Jack's breakfast. It also contained the inari sushi Carl could eat, so he couldn't let it get ruined.
As the crowd fled, Carl shook out his arms and walked against the flow toward the Night City Police Department officers desperately fighting the Cyberpsychotic.
A normal person would definitely run from a Cyberpsychotic, but Carl wasn't exactly normal.
He had long wanted to try facing an opponent with a Sandevistan.
If Carl had any desire to get involved, it was probably to test his own abilities and see how much money he could make.
He wondered how much the bounty on this Cyberpsychotic would be. Could it be ten thousand eddies?
Making money while eating breakfast—pretty nice.
Even a Cyberpsychotic had to bear the strain a Sandevistan put on the human body. So after using it twice, the Cyberpsychotic instinctively sensed the threat and began approaching the Night City Police Department officers on foot to slaughter them. Aside from frantically shouting for the Psycho Squad, the officers holding Lexingtons could only watch in despair as the Cyberpsychotic endured their bullets and advanced toward them step by step.
When they got back, they absolutely had to save up for better guns!
That was the thought in every Night City Police Department officer's mind as they fired only to see their bullets bounce away. Then they saw Carl rapidly closing in at a run.
No way, another one?!
Just as they thought another potential Cyberpsychotic had arrived, they realized that Carl was charging straight at Patrick.
"I'll handle this guy. Don't hit me by mistake—I don't have any Subdermal Armor."
Hearing those remarkably clear-headed words, the Night City Police Department officers felt no relief at all. They could all see that while everyone else was retreating, wishing their parents had given them two more legs and planning to get cybernetic replacements, this young man had actually stepped forward to face the Cyberpsychotic.
Everyone watching believed the kid would be torn to pieces in the next instant.
"Watch out!"
An older Night City Police Department officer ran out from behind cover. He did not know why this kid intended to throw his life away, but that was no reason for him to stand by and watch.
He often took bribes, and plenty of them. He also frequently extorted protection money from vendors, and would casually bring people along to beat up street vendors who refused to pay. But he was still a police officer. He couldn't just watch a child go die!
"No need to worry."
Carl had no intention of explaining himself to the Night City Police Department. As long as their useless Lexingtons did not hit him, that was enough.
The Monomolecular Wire was already drawn from his hand.
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